Stalin hits back at TN CM over 'Vel' episode

DMK president M K Stalin on Sundayslammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami for allegingthat he eyed elections and wielded Lord Muruga's spear-likeweapon of 'Vel', and asked if the AIADMK top leader was afraidof his party's decimation at the hustings.

Days after Palaniswami alleged that Stalin posed with aVel only to hoodwink the people as polls were round thecorner, the DMK chief said the divine symbol was presented tohim recently in Tiruttani in northern Tamil Nadu by his partydistrictsecretary, the people and temple priests.

''Do we say that there should not be belief in God?'' heasked in his poll campaign in nearby Tiruvallur district.

Seeking to blunt the AIADMK's accusation that Vel wasnoticed by him only due to polls to the Assembly, due inApril-May, he said his party was not against any religiousbeliefs.

For long, the DMK has been accused of slighting Hindureligious beliefs by the BJP and Sangh outfits in Tamil Nadu.

The saffron party also accused the Stalin-led party ofbacking a fringe group that denigrated 'Kanda Sashti Kavacham'in praise of Lord Muruga and the BJP held a 'Vel' yatra lastyearwhich commenced from Tiruttani.

Stalin quoted a popular dialogue of his father and lateparty patriarch M Karunanidhi from the 1952 Tamil flick'Parasakthi' which said the stance was not that there shouldbe no temples, but shrines should not become a camp of rogueelements.

''What is Palaniswami's problem? Why is he afraid of Vel?''he asked adding people were going to decimate the AIADMKdemocratically and politically.

Besides the ruling party's decimation, the electionswould end the political careers of Palaniswami and DeputyChief Minister O Panneerselvam, he claimed.

He further said ''My criticism against them is notpersonal. I have no animosity towards them. AIADMK regime isselfish and their politicalactivities are wrong andthat iswhy I am criticising them.'' The DMK chief said he has taken a pledge to dislodge theAIADMK government and build a bright future for Tamil Nadu.

PTI VGNROH ROH